How I Became My Own Mom
by MythologyGirl
Summary: It was weird being reborn as the Nidaime's daughter, especially after having been male for over 3 decades. It was even weirder that her once father was trying to woo her.


_**A/N:** _Originally, this story was going to be a one-shot, but I figured it would be easier to read in pieces. A big thanks to **_Nyodrite_** for giving me the idea of a Sakumo/Kakashi story!

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><p><strong>Age: 4<strong>

**Location: Academy**

It took all of Botan's four years of life to come to terms with the fact she used to be a boy named Kakashi and that she was technically from the future. Not to mention the way her chakra itched; there was a wrongness to it she just could not put her finger on (which she would later learn was because of her elemental affinity being different than the lightning it had been). In fact, she wasn't sure if she had really come to terms with it at all, the memories sometimes being a little too much to bare, but was now able to push it aside as it wasn't like she would ever run into anyone she had known personally and intimately, besides the Sandaime and Tsunade-sama, in her previous life.

At least, that is what she _had _thought.

What she didn't expect was that on her first day at the academy she would find not only the once Godaime (now her older than her niece) as her classmate, but the traitor Orochimaru, her used to be godfather Jiraiya, and her once father Sakumo were among her new classmates as well. Quickly she averted her eyes from the man that would be her future male self's father, just catching Jiraiya elbowing the boy in the side as he wiggled his eyebrows, as she hurried to the open seat at the front next to her niece.

"What was that about?" Her cousin asked, blowing a piece of her blond hair that had come loose from its high ponytail from her eyes, as Botan plopped down next to her on the wooden bench.

"It's nothing," Botan replied self-consciously fixing the mask she wore to cover the lower half of her face (old habits she supposed). She could feel the lighter silver-haired boy's stare on her as if he were trying to burn twin holes into the back of her shirt.

"I don't know why you wear that thing," Tsunade mumbled. She turned to glare behind them, "what are you looking at?" She snapped loudly making more than half the class look in their direction.

Botan discreetly glanced back at the two boys when she heard Jiraiya's loud guffaws to see that her future-father's ears were burning scarlet at being caught staring.

"Idiots," Tsunade said scathingly. "Why do we have to be in a class with idiots?"

"All right, maggots, sit down and shut up!" A powerful voice boomed from the front of the room, making all the students jump, before Botan had a chance to answer her cousin's, no doubt rhetorical, question. "Class is now in session!"

Children scrambled around the room like ants without their tunnel. After about two minutes only one lone straggler was left searching for a place to sit until their sensei lost patience and pointed to an empty seat at the front of the row barking out a "_sit_." The child, a chubby girl ('Akimichi' Botan's mind supplied), rushed to comply, tripping over her own feet on the way down the stairs. Their sensei sighed as he massaged the bridge of his nose in aggravation.

"All right you maggots my name is Saito Hiroshi; I will be your instructor." The man announced, running a hand through his short hair, as he turned his head a little, whispering a _Nidaime help me_ that only those towards the front were able to hear. His gaze shifted back towards the class. "From here on out you will address me as Saito-sensei, is that understood?"

"Hai," the students chorused as one.

Saito-sensei raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry. What was that?"

"Hai, Saito-sensei!"

The chūnin gave a tight nod of approval before he turned towards the large board that ran along the wall at the very front of the room. He picked up a piece of chalk and began to write (the sound of it scraping across the board making Botan and some of her classmates, that she assumed were from relatively freshly arrived Inuzuka clan - having settled in the village about two years before the war broke out - flinch due to their sensitive ears).

"As all you maggots know," Saito-sensei said as he continued jot down what appeared to be the students names in two neat rows, "this is the second year this establishment has been open. It was created by our current hokage, the Nidaime, as a place for all of you maggots to learn the fine arts of being shinobi and I have been bribed… recruited, to help you all along that path."

The man paused, taking a deep breath as he finished writing. He placed the chalk down as he turned back around gazing around the room with narrowed eyes. "So it goes to say, that the academy is still in the development stages when it comes to curriculum and what ages are the best for those interested in this career to start at, which is way you see so many older and younger kids around you. And it is also why today we are going to be starting off with your very first spars as students."

A collective groan arose from the students which must have sounded particularly like an annoying group of squawking birds to the older man. Botan found it hard to miss the twitching that developed in the man's fingers.

"Stop your whining maggots," Saito-sensei hissed out, hands (twitching now stilled) going up to rub his temples. "If you can not even handle this then you might as well walk out that door right now and even forget wanting to be a shinobi."

The class quieted; nobody moved from their seats. Botan snuck another quick glance behind her to see Sakumo sitting with his back straight, eyes forward and unwavering. Deep down she had wished he would have left, knowing what was to come in his future. A pang of regret started to bubble up; one that she ruthlessly stamped down. She may have his memories, but she was no longer Kakashi, there was no reason for her to feel anything for this boy.

"Right, since you have all so _graciously _decided to continue _honoring_ with your presence, we can begin." Saito-sensei said with no little bit of sarcasm, leaving to Botan to wonder what her Ojisama was thinking to leave such a man in charge of a bunch of rowdy brats.

"He's _cheerful_," Tsunade leaned over to whisper to the slightly younger silver-haired girl. The other merely nodded in silent agreement.

"I've written all your names down here," the man continued, tapping a finger against the board next to the white chalk marks. "The name next to yours is who you are going to be sparring against today as well as your pairing number, memorize it. I'm not going to be repeating them when we get outside and lack of knowing will not only earn you a forfeit by an immediate dismissal from the program; we're not going to teach inattentive slackers here."

With that the Saito-sensei turned and began marching towards the exit, he tilted his head back when he noticed none of the class was following him. "_Well_, are any of you coming or not?"

Everybody rushed to get out of their seats as fast they could, tripping over one another in the process. Botan, who had frozen up when she noticed her name next to Orochimaru's, the future Snake Sannin in group 4, jolted out of her shocked state when Tsunade pinched her arm urging her to move. She hastily slid into the mayhem that the other students were creating in their mad dash to the door to not keep their, apparently no nonsense, sensei waiting. It did not help her ego when she found herself stumbling off the only step she had to go down when she was jabbed in the lower back by a knobby elbow. Botan barely had time tuck her body in to avoid injuring herself, when she find herself crashing into a clothed chest, two tiny arms circling around her waist.

"That was close," a childish, but achingly familiar voice, sounded above her. "Are you okay?"

Botan slowly glanced up to meet the kind dark-eyes and smile of her that she knew so well through her memories of being Kakashi, even though today was the first time she had seen them in person. When his smile started to falter unsurely, she realized she hadn't responded to his question in an appropriate amount of time and that his arms were still locked around her; she could feel their heat radiating into her undershirt, burning her skin. One of the boy's hands lifted to try and check her temperature, yet before the he could touch her she placed both hands upon his chest, shoving him away.

"I'm fine," Botan mumbled out, pretending not to notice his hurt look as she glanced off to the side, cheeks puffing out in a pout. "Thanks, for catching me."

The kicked-puppy expression started to ease from the silver-haired (Botan absently observed it wasn't as long as it would be when he was older, currently longer than her own, but about the length and messiness she remembered her hair being when she was child Kakashi.) boy's face, yet just as he opened his mouth to say something, he was interrupted by a rather aggravated, angry voice. As one they both shifted to see Tsunade holding an older boy, around the age of six and undoubtedly the one who knocked into her, by the collar of his wide shirt.

"What don't you watch where you're walking," her niece near shouted in the boys face. The other students giving the display a wide berth as the class started to thin out. "You could have hurt her you inconsiderate jerk!"

If there was one thing, besides her new family, that had Botan glad she was reborn as a Senju and the granddaughter of one of the hokage, it was that they had tutors since they learned to walk; it made her own large vocabulary stand out a lot less. It wasn't until the blond brought her fist back, ready to clock the trembling boy that Botan decided to intervene. She walked calmly over to pair, closing her own hand around Tsunade's wrist, stopping the girl from bring it down upon the older boy's face. "Tsunade-Oneechan, we're going to be late."

The older girl, by half a year, gave her red-eyed 'aunt' a once over before she roughly shoved the terrified boy (Botan was a little surprised he didn't lose the contents of his bladder with how scared he appeared) away from her.

"You're lucky we have somewhere to be punk," the blond girl snarled at the boy, who immediately scrambled away from them and out the door. The action left her cousin huffing out a "pansy."

A second later Botan found Tsunade twisting her wrist out of the loosened grip, to grab the silver-haired girl's slender wrist tightly instead, tugging her towards the door. The force of it caused Botan to stumble a bit before she regained her footing, pleased that she did not nearly face-plant for a second time that day, she threw another haphazard wave behind in her in the vague direction her 'savior' had been standing just before she was tugged around the corner of the door and out of the classroom.

It took them less than a minute to make their way outdoors, their classroom being one of the closest to the academy entrance. The first thing Botan noticed as she stepped into the warm morning sun, joining the congregating children, was the tree sapling, which she knew would grow to be strong and sturdy, that she had planted two years prior with her Uncle Hashirama and Tsunade. She nearly giggled as she recalled his dejected face when he offered to make the tree grow fully right then and there and she had squished his cheeks with her dirty hands, making him look like a rather unattractive fish, while saying, "no, no. Bad Hashi." Tsunade laughing loudly in the background at her grandfather being reprimanded. She remembered the man muttering "just like her Tōchan" before perking back up, lifting both toddlers into his arms, spinning around, and asking them if they wanted to go get sweets.

The very sapling that her Tōsama told her, while he helped the girl paint the kanji for fire on a large wooden sign, was one of the reasons he decided on this particular location. That the tree would become a symbol for the strength of Konohagakure's future generations since it was filled with the hopes of those who loved the village. Her hand went to touch her chest, right above her heart, when she recognized the warm feeling of pride that had bloomed within her that day. Her past (future?) life as Kakashi may have left her with a want to protect her home and comrades, but it was those words that left her with something precious in this life.

Botan wasn't aware how long she had be reminiscing, when a sharp jab to her side jolted her back to reality.

"That's you," Tsunade hissed from the corner of her mouth.

The red-eyed girl blinked, finally became aware that Orochimaru was waiting in the middle of the 'ring' that had been formed by the group of kids, Saito-sensei standing next him. She hurriedly moved to join them - giggles sounding around her - just as the man was about to declare the pale boy winner by forfeit. "Wait, I am here!"

The glare the Chūnin sent her told her he was not at all impressed with her display, but was willing to let it pass since she entered the circle before the call was made. Orochimaru, the little snake, was not so lenient. Botan barely repressed a shudder as the boy eyed her up and down critically before he sniffed disdainfully, turning to their sensei, "you really expect me to fight this _weakling_?"

Botan bristled, heatedly spitting out, "you won't be saying that when you have a mouth full of dirt."

The children around them "oohed" as Orochimaru's face darkened in fury.

Saito-sensei interjected with a sigh before the argument could degenerate any further. "You both know the rules: taijutsu only." He carelessly gestured for them to take their positions. Once both children were on the opposite sides of the circle, he moved back with a shouted, "begin!"

Orochimaru instantly charged at the girl, aiming a punch towards her face. He dropped to the ground in a crouch when she dodged, trying to knock her off balance.

'He's fast,' Botan thought as she leapt back to avoid the sweeping leg. The noise around them melting away in the heat of the battle before her. She had known the pale, snake-like boy would grow up to be a legendary, if not infamous, shinobi, but she had never expected him to be this good, even without any formal training. She was certainly up against a genius; luckily for her, most would consider her a prodigy too. She had also been training frequently to try and get her body to what it had been in her previous life, practicing moves that had once come to her so naturally again and again.

The silver-haired girl attempted to side-kick her opponent's head before he could straighten up, only for the older boy to lean back, Botan's leg passing over him by mere inches, as he flipped into a standing position. He then tried to punch her again, this time targeting her chest, yet was stopped by Botan crossing her arms in a block.

The fight went on for several minutes, both of them blocking and countering the other. It was beginning to appear as if the two of them were evenly matched and that no clear winner would be announced, when Orochimaru finally managed to land a hard strike right into Botan's gut.

The girl gasped as she doubled over attempting to get her breath back. The long-haired boy didn't wait for her to get her bearings, one of his hands grasping her one of hers arm in a bruising grip, while his other fisted into the furred-lining of her shirt. He then flipped her over onto her back, pinning the girl beneath his weight. Botan tried to throw him off, but he was holding her arms down with the sides of his knees, making it hard for her to move.

"So much for me 'eating dirt.'" He taunted her, as she continued to struggle beneath him. He squirming becoming even more desperate when the little bastard reached for her mask. "Why do you even wear this stupid thing? I bet it's because you're deformed."

Everything seemed to start moving in slow motion when Orochimaru curled two fingers into the edge of her mask, swiftly pulling it down and exposing her face for the whole class to see. Tears prick the corners of her eyes; she had not been this uncomfortable, with her face unprotected from the strangers around her, since she first realized she was reborn without the anatomy she had when she was Kakashi. It was then she noticed an opportunity to turn the match around in her favor.

Orochimaru had frozen when he got a good look at her face, the two red markings she begged to have tattooed on her cheeks last year in honor of her father where bright against her fair-skin, as he face gained a light blush. Botan quickly took advantage of the boy's inattention leaning in and biting down hard on the hand that still hovered near her mouth. She thought she heard a loud snarl come from somewhere in the crowd, but put the thought aside as Orochimaru snapped out of his hypnotized state with a short howl of pain. The boy tried to dislodge his appendage from Botan's rather sharp teeth unknowingly releasing his opponent from his tight hold as he reared back. Unfortunately, for him, his blunder left the younger girl with just enough room to knee him in the groin as hard as she could. The results were immediate.

The pale boy curled inwards with a curse that no four, nearly five year old, should probably know, his voice taking on an even more feminine tone. Botan didn't wait a second before she bucked up (another snarl sounded from the crowd), throwing the other off her and onto his back. Swiftly, she stood up, made her way over to the fallen future-Sannin, seizing one of his arms, inadvertently pulling one of his hands away from where it had been cupping his groin, flipping him onto his front, trapping his other hand beneath him, and twisting the arm in her hold behind Orochimaru's back. Once she was finished, she sat down on him, close to his shoulder blades, using her other hand to shove his face into the dirt.

"That's for before," she announced, thoughts drifting back to her 'before' life and all the pain this boy had caused her precious people.

"Senju Botan is the winner," Saito-sensei declared distracting the young girl from her revenge. She let go of her hold on the pale boy as she stood up, allowing the boy to stand, as she backed away. Orochimaru said nothing as he spit out some dirt from his mouth, shooting her a nasty glare, as he shoved his way into the circle of children, making his way towards the back. Botan, herself, started to move back to where Tsunade stood waiting for her, making sure to pull her mask back up and secure it along the way.

"You sure showed him," the blond said as she thumped the other girl on the back, making her stumble forward from the force, when she was close enough. "The jerk."

Botan merely hummed as their Chūnin sensei called the next group's number.

The rest of the fights went by in a relative blur, not many did the red-eyed girl find herself taking note of: Tsunade vs. Jiraiya (which ended with the spunky girl knocking the perverted boy across the field). It was just so strange to see people she had known as close to decrepit and wrinkly, or had only heard stories of, so young and vibrant; ready to take on the burden of Konoha's protectors.

It was why she was so surprised when she suddenly found that her class was being dismissed for the day; Tsunade dragging her along by the hand towards the gates, eager to get home.

"Hey, wait up! Botan-chan!"

The call of the younger Senju's name had both girl's pausing in their track, Botan a bit reluctantly, as they turned to face the messy silver-haired boy racing in an attempt to catch up. Botan's attention was finally brought to what the boy was wearing: a white short-sleeved shirt that had red triangles bordering the sleeves, a mesh shirt underneath that which extended down to his wrists, and black loose fitting pants that that were taped down at the ankles by bandages. She averted her gaze when she realized she had been staring.

"Whadda want?" Tsunade bit out agitated that they were both stopped and the boy's presence seemed to be making her family member uneasy.

"W-well," the boy stuttered, trailing off, the tips of his ears starting to burn red when he quickly glanced at Botan, before turning his gaze to the ground shyly fidgeting (which both confused and fascinated her).

When it appeared like the boy was not going to continue, Tsunade raised a condescending eyebrow. "_Well,_ what?"

It was then that a white-haired boy, with twin red tear-like marks running down from both of his eyes, popped up behind the increasingly embarrassed child that had been her future self's father, tugging said boy into a headlock and giving him a noogie. The new arrival shot the two girls a wide smile, flashing them his straight teeth."Sorry about my friend here. He's never been around such lovely ladies as yourselves. My names Jiraiya, as I am sure you both already know"

The first thought that entered Botan's mind was that he was _much_ shorter than her memories as the Copy-nin supplied. Tsunade, however, gave the newcomer a disgusted look, her pretty face scrunching up, her tongue sticking out in disdain. "I make it my mission not to remember the name's of doofuses."

Just as Jiraiya was about to responded the other boy broke free from his hold. "My name is Sakumo! Hatake Sakumo!" He neared shouted, bowing deeply; when nobody said anything after a few seconds, the red in his ears started to spread down to his face.

"It is nice to meet you 'Kumo-kun," Botan greeted as she placed a hand upon Sakumo's messy hair, ruffling it, unable to resist how adorable he was being. The friendly smile she gave him when he peeked up at her made his face turn darker. Botan was sure that if it had been night, the now luminescent color off the boy's face would have been enough to light up the area.

The conversation was halted when Botan recognized a chakra signature she had come to know over the four years of her new life draw near their small group. Her expression brightened when she pivoted around to find a tall man with shaggy white hair held back by a happuri engraved with the village symbol, three lines upon his face, and decked out in heavy looking, blue metal armor lined at the top with white fur.

Botan cried out, "Tōsama!" as she rushed passed Tsunade (ignoring the choking sound and high-pitched "Tōsama?" that came from the still bowing boy), and jumping into the man's arms, who had kneeled down to catch her. The Nidaime's daughter buried her nose against the village leader's neck taking in his scent (smoke and sweat with a hint of forest and freshwater) before snuggling her face into the white fur of his collar.

"I missed you Tōsama," she whispered out as Tobirama stood from his crouching position. At first she had felt as if she were committing some sort of sacrilege by calling the man that, as he wasn't Kakashi's Tōsan, but over time she came to view him as such. He was _Botan's _father, she reminded herself, and right now she was Botan; not _Kakashi_.

Her father said nothing as he ran a hand through her short hair in comfort nearly putting her to sleep right then and there. The soothing motion did not stop even when Tsunade approached them saying a polite, "Hello, Tobirama-ojisama."

It was only after the last of the Senju joined their side that the Nidaime took notice of the two young boys staring at him in awe. "Are these your friends," his voice rumbled out in question.

Tsunade scoffed out a, "hardly."

Botan on the other hand, lethargically lifted her head with a tired yawn from its resting place on her father's shoulder, eyes droopy. Her arms tightened around the man's neck, fingers flexing in the soft material, as she introduced the two wide-eyed children. "They're 'Kumo-kun and Jaraiya-kun, Tōsama. They are both in our class."

Tobirama's stoic expression turned towards the smaller boy, eyes zooming in on Sakumo when he detected a slight difference to his daughter' tone when she said his name and the slight hint of innocent pleasure that danced across the boy's expression at what was undoubtedly a nickname.

The mini-White Fang flinched under the weight of the powerful stare, shifting from foot to foot as he mumbled out a quiet, "'...'lo, sir."

The Nidaime seemed to find whatever he was searching for before he nodded in silent approval. The current village leader offered a hand to his grandniece, who happily accepted, as he moved to walk away; just as they were almost out of the academy gates, he tilted his head back, locking eyes with Sakumo. "... Take care of my daughter."

"Yes sir, Nidaime-sama!" Sakumo all but fumbled out sounding surprised, yet ecstatically happy. "I promise I will make her the happiest girl ever!

And with that the three Senju clan members were off; heading back to their clan's grounds with Botan more confused than ever, but too tired to care.

.


End file.
